Religion causes terror which means it creates fear among people. This statement may be agreeable to many extents if one sees the present chaos of the world. Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam all emerged with the purpose to bring peace in the society and to solve economic, social, political and cultural trials and tribulations of the people. Like other religions, Islam aimed to bring peace in the society, but circumstances and misinterpretations made people to consider it as a religion of terrorism. Islam is not a violent religion, yet it is associated with terrorism and violence because of sectarian divisions and misrepresentation of teachings.
One of the main reasons of defamation of Islam is sectarian. Islam did not establish with various sects or divisions rather it emerged as a religion with one God and no sects. Today Islam has various divisions and sects like Sunni, Shia, Wahabi and other extreme groups like Al-Qaeda, Taliban. The Prophet Muhammad (sm) spread Islam to establish an egalitarian society. The religion aimed to establish a peaceful society based on unity. There were no sects in Islam, but today in this modern Islamic world sects like Sunni, Shia, Sufi and many more seems to give us a deteriorated image of Islam. Like other religions Islam also got corrupted and people today are using religion as a weapon to gain their benefits. Islam experienced its first sectarian after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (sm) for succession. The division resulted in the emergence of two divisions Sunni and Shia. According to the people of Sunni group it is believed that the true successor after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (sm) should be Abu Bakr, father of the Prophet’s wife Aysha while Shiites’ people believes that th...
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... values. One of the insignificant events that are caused in the Muslim world because of sectarian is the attack of 9/11. The consequence of all these factors is the defamation of Islam.
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The culture of Islam has its positive aspects, as well as its negative aspects. Islam bestowed many unfortunate people the opportunity to gain more knowledge about their surroundings, and the adversities that they may face on a daily basis. Islam also created alliances, and trade contracts with other surrounding countries, allowing them to receive resources that other religions and groups could not envisage. However, to gain these privileges, Islam had to first fester the lives of many civilians that dared step in its path. Islam not only ruined the lives of people, but it ruined whole kingdoms. Many people felt an...
Culture is made up of three main components: ethics, aesthetics, and religion (Lincoln 52). The lines of culture become skewed as it often blends in with political and religious views. In Western Europe during the time of the Reformation, the Church was the central ruler of the society. This meant that religion was not only a cultural view, but also a political one. As time moved on, the Church became less important, but today’s standards still connect religion to culture. This becomes an issue as individuals who are noticeably outside the culture in forms or religion are often judged and looked down upon (Lincoln 56). Due to this outcast it can cause anger to certain religions and culture which can often lead to these acts of violence. With the hate between cultures, religion becomes the justifiable mean on which violence can occur. Many individuals can state that God wants them to make their own religion superior, and one way they can draw attention to their religion is terrorism and other forms of violence. Due to this connection to culture, religion can not be separated into it’s own personal category, as it is forever affected by the changes and culture of the community (Lincoln 57). As time and culture progress, the religion of the community will either change with it, or fight the changes which will often cause conflict. This can be seen in the results of the practice of Jihad, the Reformation and
Islam is portrayed and is commonly accepted as the most violent and largest direct threat to the West. This is a generalization made by most of the West, but it is not particularly the West or the Islamic people’s fault. There is constant turmoil in Islamic countries in the Middle East and these conflicts are what make the news in the West. The only representation in the media that the Islamic nation gets is that of war. Though most Islamic people are not violent, the select few that do participate in terrorist groups give the rest of the Islam nation a bad image.
Islam in America has historically been misunderstood, and this is due to the misconception of culture and religion as well as lack of education and incorrect portrayal in the media, which gives a skewed idea of Islam. Especially in the United States, Islam has been seen as the “terrorist religion” or a religion for the extremists and a religion in which freedom is not an option. Among the countless misconceptions, the basis of stereotypes by Americans is due to the mix up between religion and culture. Furthermore, the media only fuels fire to these misunderstandings and lack of factual information about Islam causing Americans to lash out on American Muslims without reason.
Muslims have been facing propaganda by media of the western world since many decades. Western media spreads any negative incident in which Muslims are involved very quickly. Many people have developed such an understanding due to this stigmatization that they normally think of terrorism, violence and other extreme things when they hear about Islam and Muslims. One major incident behind such stigmatization is the 9/11 attacks on America.
The Quran, like many other holy books and scriptures, has an overall peaceful message to go out into the world in the name of God and do good deeds that reflect his teaching. Over time some of these stories and passages have been interpreted differently, resulting in the formation of different religious groups within Islam. Overall, Muslims, no matter the sect, strive to live a life of peace and devotion through the Five Pillars of Islam. However, like in every society or religion, there are groups of extremists who have very intense beliefs and ideologies.Unfortunately, in the case of the Islamic extremist groups, they have misinterpreted their Prophet Muhammad’s teachings as well as the words in their Quran, and caused much suffering for themselves, their enemies, and their people as a nation.
While the events of September 11, 2001, cast the Islam religion in an unfavorable light, this has not dampened the enthusiasm of the Muslim members, nor has it stopped the Islam religion from growing. Obviously, with over one billion members worldwide, Islam is one of the largest religions in the world today.
There is a strong belief that Islam and politics are directly tied. They are tied in the sense that the building blocks of the religion dictate how they ought to behave in the political environment. Through this mandatory follow up behavior that the religion delineates, many have come to believe that its teachings are a form of terrorism. Mandaville argues that what has challenged the Islamic link between politics and religion was the emergence of secularism, which went against the belief that politics and religion could go together. Islam has been a religion that has been accused of supporting terrorist activities in the world. Different assumptions have been brought up to understand better the linkages between what really lies behind the Islam religion and politics. Peter Mandaville argues that Islam is dynamic and that it has changed over time; situated within time and politics.
G. Esposito, John L (2002) Islam; What Everyone Should Know. New York. Oxford University Press Inc.
Burns, Thomas J. "Islam." Religion and Society. OU Campus' Dale Hall, Norman. 14 Apr. 2014. Lecture.
Islam never did and never will allow terrorism to be a part of the religion, guide women to be oppressed, or permit the followers to have a lack of freedom. Even though only some of the myths of Islam are listed, I know there are other people who believe in many more misunderstandings due to their lack of knowledge about the religion. 1.6 billion people, which is 23% of the population follow this religion for a reason; they believe that this religion is comprised with love, compassion, and peace amongst the sisters and brothers of Islam.
After 9/11 has induced negative attitudes towards Muslim peoples who tend to be strongly associated with any act of terrorism. The media has played a colossal role in developing such negative association wherein it constantly portrays Muslim people in combination with violent terrorist acts. It does so in a way that they both go hand-and-hand. In other words, it has made it as though the Islamic religion is synonymous with terrorism. The media has perpetuated Muslim stereotypes over the years that followed the 9/11 incident. Because of this, society has developed, and still has developed, this prejudiced mindset about the Islamic religion and the Muslim communities around the world. People immediately assume that any violent act being depicted through the media is the direct result of Muslims. They automatically generate this idea that the act was performed by a Muslim terrorist even when they were not involved whatsoever. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Islamic religion and its Muslim adherents are at the top of societies’ agenda just waiting for the evidence to be generated so that they can then safely blame them for such world affairs. Again, this has led to the attack on the Islamic religion itself wherein people have come to postulate Islam as an act of oppression, violence and hatred towards non-Muslims. Anti-Muslim sentiments and campaigns have resulted from such misinformation the media has been generating and feeding its viewers.
Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab. "The Message of Islam." Diogenes (International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies). Humanities Full Text. 2005. Web.
Most religions specify that violence is not allowed and yet extremists will cause major destruction in the name of their God. However, some people are too quick to blame religion on terrorism (Winchester, 2). In actuality, it is the nature of human beings to prove that their way is right, there way of doing that is using fear and destruction (Winchester, 3). It is not religion that causes the terr...
Khan, Sir Muhammad Zafrullah (1989). Islam: Its Meaning for Modern Man. New York & Evanston: Harper & Row.